The Angkor Dynasty flourished here between the 9th and 15th centuries. It ruled a vast territory, and hundreds of stone buildings remain its legacy. Outstanding among them is the Angkor Wat. It is a Hindu temple complex and one of the largest religious monuments in the world. Stories of the creation of the universe adorn the long corridor walls. There are reliefs of magnificent Goddesses. Modeled on the king’s dancers and court ladies, the costumes and accessories suggest cultural sophistication. The damage on the Goddess here is due to destruction during the country’s recent civil war. When peace came in 1992, UNESCO inscribed Angkor on the World Heritage List, as well as the World Heritage in Danger List to save it from further destruction and looting. The Sophia University of Japan formed the Angkor survey group team in 1980. The ruins were studied and restored. Local people were trained to carry out work.
This is Ta Prom. A man-made monument struggling against the relentless power of nature. And this is another site at Angkor, the Banteay Kdei. Sophia University’s International Mission Team came across 274 Buddha statues buried in the earth during an excavation training session. The heads of the statues had been removed. Experts believe the find shows, there was a religious revolution resulting from Hindu and Buddhist conflict.
Here, a sculpture of a meditating bodhisattva. It has an entrancing symmetrical "Khmer smile", reflecting a long Asian spiritual tradition. Angkor Wat, a crossroads of history.
Angkor Wat has been described as the temple mountain of perfect harmony, the crowning achievement of the Khmer style. Built by king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, it has the classic design of five towers symbolizing Mount Meru, dwelling place of the Hindu gods. It iis also one of the largest Hindu temples ever built. Within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. The outer gallery measures 215 m by 187m. For comparison, the Hindu temple at Rameswaram, south India, is 264m by 200m; and St. Peter’s Baslica, Rome is 212m long and 130m high.
The interior walls of Angkor Wat are decorated with innumerable reliefs depicting stories from the Indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. There are also scores of carvings of graceful apsarases, or heavenly dancers. An interesting feature of the architecture, as often iin Angkor is the way some of the buildings reproduce in stone features of the wood architecture which was used for all secular buildings. Examples of this may still be seen in Myanmar and Thailand.
Suryavarman II usurped the Khmer throne in 1113 AD. He fought campaigns against neighbouring Dai Vet and Champa (in Vietnam), and also, more successfully, against the Thai kingdom to the West. The mystery of Angkor Wat is why he dedicated it to the Hindu god Vishnu. Like other Khmer monarchs, he may in fact have been a devotee of Siva. It is possible that the king identified himself with Krishna, who usurped the worship of Indra, an episode depicted in a relief inside the temple.
The temple architect was Divakarapandita, then an elderly man; construction took about thirty years. The structure includes three levels resting on a platform of cruciform design, each higher than the next. The central tower stands 65m above ground level. The towers, like some of the interior reliefs, were originally covered in stucco and gilded. Interior doors and ceilings were covered in wood, no doubt colourfully decorated.
Apart from its elegant design and huge scale, reflecting the wealth of the Khmers, the greatest glory of Angkor Wat is the relief carvings. For example, they include a depiction of the terrible final battle of the Mahabharata; and of the battle of Lanka, a familiar scene to all in southeast Asia. In the Historical Gallery, echoing on a very different scale the reliefs in the Pallava temple of Vaikunthaperumal at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, there is a depiction of Suryavarman in his glory, sourrounded by his courtiers and ministers, and a military parade with portraits of his generals.
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